New York governor Kathy Hochul professed to be “the underdog” when asked if she has any regrets about how she has run her campaign to retain her position.
With polls showing a new dynamic in the race for Governor, @KathyHochul is asked if she has any regrets, or would have done anything differently. “I am the underdog in this race,” she says. Adds that she has only been in the Governor’s job a “short time.” pic.twitter.com/5PfXVHoVet
— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) October 28, 2022
FiveThirtyEight‘s polling average of her race shows she has almost a seven-point lead over her Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin, while RealClearPolitics‘s average pegs it as closer to six. Four months ago, she held 18- and 19-point leads, according to the two aggregators.
The last time New York favored a Republican president was 1984, and Joe Biden won the state by 23 points just two years ago. Andrew Cuomo — the Democrat who preceded Hochul and resigned in disgrace after several women accused him of sexual misconduct — won his last election by almost 25 points. Cuomo ascended to the top job after the incumbent Democratic governor, David Paterson, declined to run for another term as a result of various scandals of his own. Paterson moved into the governor’s mansion after Democrat Eliot Spitzer resigned after he was found to have blown tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes.
At no point in this vicious cycle did it occur to New Yorkers — who last elected a Republican governor in 2002 (pro-choice George Pataki) — to consider the opposition party.
Kathy Hochul’s an underdog the way the University of Alabama football team was when it faced Utah State earlier this year — only she might lose.